1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to new 2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarbaldehyde dimethyl acetal derivatives and to a process for the preparation of these derivatives.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that certain substituted cyclopropanecarboxylic acid derivatives are an important class of pesticides called "pyrethroids". These pyrethroids have been of considerable interest because of their quick knock-down activity, low persistence as toxic residues and their low mammalian toxicity. However, the acid moiety of these pyrethroids has heretofore been fairly expensive to manufacture in the large scale commercial quantities for agricultural and domestic applications.
The hereinafter described process of the invention, and the new intermediates thereof, provide a method for obtaining desired pyrethroids from 3-carene, which is an inexpensive, readily available, naturally occurring terpene found in numerous varieties of pine trees.